The Continuing Partnership of Fonda and Ford

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This black–and–white trailer accompanied the 1947 re–release of
"Drums Along the Mohawk," director John Ford's first color feature.

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"Oh, Almighty God, hear us, we beseech thee, and bring succor and guidance to those we are about to bring to your divine notice. First we are thinking of Mary Walaber. She is only 16 years old, but she is keeping company with a soldier from Fort Dayton. He's a Massachusetts man, and thou knowest no good can come of that."

Reverend Rosenkrantz (Arthur Shields)

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John Ford and Henry Fonda teamed up for the first time earlier in 1939 when they made "Young Mr. Lincoln."

They wasted no time making their second film together, "Drums Along the Mohawk," which premiered 75 years ago today.

It had some things in common with "Young Mr. Lincoln," such as the fact that both were set in specific periods in American history. "Young Mr. Lincoln" was about Abraham Lincoln's early life, and "Drums Along the Mohawk" was about life in colonial America.

Fonda and Claudette Colbert played 18th–century newlyweds trying to set up their home in the Mohawk Valley of central New York. It was a region that had a great deal of importance in Revolutionary War times, a passageway between the Atlantic Ocean and the interior of the New World.

Their story was not one for the faint of heart. Colbert's character suffered a miscarriage. Beset from all sides by Indians and the British, they lost their home. Along with other settlers, they were forced to relocate at a fort, from which they could see their homes and lands being destroyed.

You really had to believe in what you were trying to do to survive. For a movie that was made within the limitations of filmmaking in 1939, "Drums Along the Mohawk" did a pretty good job of presenting a realistic portrayal of the travails of colonial life.

Edna May Oliver, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress (but lost to Hattie McDaniel, who played Mammy in "Gone With the Wind"), played a widow who owned a big farm and hired Fonda to work it. She took in Fonda and Colbert after their farm was burned by Indians.

In a way, it was sort of like the old Green Acres TV show without the jokes. Colbert's character was raised in affluent and comfortable surroundings; she wasn't prepared for the rugged life of a settler. In time, though, she adapted to it and even came to love it.

And, in true John Ford fashion, the movie ended on an upbeat, patriotic note. The Indians had been turned back, and the American flag was raised above the fort.

A Birthday Milestone

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It wasn't so long ago that living 100 years was a rare accomplishment in the human experience.

Medical science has come up with drugs and other treatments that can extend lives that probably would have ended much sooner even 20 or 30 years ago. As life expectancy has increased, so has the number of centenarians.

When Richard Bare was born on Aug. 12, 1909, his parents probably had little reason to think that he would live to see the dawn of the new millennium, much less his 100th birthday. Reaching one's 100th birthday was not unheard of at the time, but it was more infrequent than it is today. There are more than 96,000 people in America who are at least 100 years old.

Bare joined that group today.

At this point, perhaps you are wondering, who is Richard Bare? Well, he is a director/writer/producer who spent most of his career working in television, but he did a lot of film work, too. He wrote, produced and/or directed more than 60 one–reel short subjects with titles that typically began "So You Want ..." from 1942 to 1956.

That series began with a film called "So You Want to Give Up Smoking," which was somewhat radical considering that it was made more than 20 years before the surgeon general linked smoking to cancer and respiratory disease and launched a public health campaign. Other self–help titles in Bare's "So You Want ..." series dealt with needing glasses, allergies, impending fatherhood and occupational goals.

As a writer, he was responsible for episodes for "Going My Way" and "Route 66."

But his most lasting legacy may be the work he did as a director. He was the director of some films and episodes of several TV series, including "Alias Smith and Jones," "Nanny and the Professor," "Lassie," "Maverick," "Petticoat Junction" and "77 Sunset Strip."

His most noteworthy directorial efforts, though, may have been for the original "Twilight Zone" and "Green Acres."

Bare produced some of the most classic "Twilight Zone" episodes, including "To Serve Man." And he directed virtually every episode of "Green Acres."

His career apparently ended in the early 1970s, but he announced in November 2007, at the age of 98, that he was working on a revival of "Green Acres."

Nothing has come of that planned revival, to my knowledge. And, even if Bare managed to launch a new incarnation of the series, the cast would be almost entirely different.

But the fact that he was working on it at his age should be an inspiration to us all.